1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to digital systems and more particularly to digital systems that are adapted to use by children two years old and older. One aspect of such a digital system is a graphical user interface that requires neither typing skills nor fine visual-motor coordination.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ever since interactive computer systems became available in the 1960's, they have been used to educate and entertain children. Entire industries dedicated to interactive games and educational software have arisen and the Internet has literally made the whole world available to a child with access to a personal computer that is connected to the Internet. Educational uses of the computer have ranged from employing it as a page turner and exercise checking machine through using the fact that it can be programmed to teach analytical thinking and problem solving skills. For an example of the last kind of application, see Seymour Papert, Mindstorms, Basic Books, 1980.
Until now, the computer as used for the education or entertainment of children has had the same basic form as the computer as used in the workplace: the display sits on a desk and has a vertically-mounted screen and input to the computer has been by way of a keyboard and a pointing device such as a mouse that sit on the desk with the display. The graphical user interfaces have generally been based on at least two out of three assumptions: the user can type, the user can read, and the user has the fine motor coordination necessary to manipulate the buttons, sliders, and icons typical of modern graphical user interfaces.
The orientation of the screen, the input devices, and the graphical user interfaces together render a standard computer unusable by children of pre-school age. Such children are too short to see the display or reach the keyboard and mouse, they cannot read, they cannot type, and even if they could reach the keyboard and mouse, they do not have the fine motor coordination necessary to use the graphical user interface. Moreover, a standard computer is not child-safe: it has an exposed power cord and other cords connecting components such as the keyboard and mouse to the CPU.
What is needed if small children are to be able to take care of the educational and entertainment opportunities offered by the computer is a digital device which has been rendered child-safe and which has a user interface that permits direct manipulation of objects in the display and requires neither literacy nor typing skills nor fine motor coordination. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a digital device.